The other side of farm fires: Losses worth crores

When the fields of Punjab and Haryana are set afire every harvest season, soil nutrients worth hundreds of crores of rupees, nearly equal to the amount spent on subsidising chemical fertilisers and pesticides, go up in smoke.
This assumes importance as, by next month, the agricultural landscape of Punjab and Haryana will be dotted with fires billowing out pollutant-laden smoke as farmers will set fire to the residues of the Rabi crop and usher in the Kharif season.
According to experts, instead of penalising farmers resorting to such practices, the focus should be on creating financially viable options like converting it into organic compost.

Executive Director of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture Ramanjaneyulu GV said burning one tonne of straw accounts for the loss of 5.5 kg nitrogen, 2.3 kg phosphorus, 25 kg potassium and 1.2 kg sulphur.
"Every year 19-20 million tonnes of straw (rice and wheat) is burnt and on the other hand we are spending crores in subsidising fertilisers," he told a workshop on air quality here today.
Ramanjaneyulu's rough estimate puts the monetary value of the burnt stubble at Rs 800 - Rs 2,000 crore in terms of the nutrients that are reduced to ashes.

Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium and Sulphure are major soil nutrients needed by plants for growth, while the government subsidies on fertilisers are -- Nitrogenous at Rs 15,854/tonne, Phosphorus at Rs 13,241/tonne, Potash at Rs 15,470/tonne and Sulfer at Rs 2,044/tonne.

The Comprehensive Action Plan for air pollution, drafted by the EPCA which has been submitted to the Supreme Court, has pitched for a strict enforcement of ban on burning of agriculture waste and crop residues in Punjab and Haryana.
It has batted for increased subsidy for purchase of equipment that eliminates the need for burning stubble and straw and recycling and reuse of this waste.